Date: February 21, 2025
Virginia Theological Seminary offers The Dean’s Scholarship to academic professionals conducting research in ground-breaking fields. Our current Dean’s Scholar is the Rev. Dr. Yazid Said, from Liverpool Hope University. He arrived on January 31 and will be on campus through mid-March.
Dr. Yazid Said is originally from Nazareth. He received bachelor degrees from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where he also trained for ordination in The Church of England.
Following his ordination to the priesthood, Dr. Said worked for the Diocese of Jerusalem for five years as Chaplain to the Bishop, and later as Acting Dean of the Cathedral. Since then, he has lectured, taught, and contributed to interfaith and theological research throughout the world.
In 2004, Dr. Said returned to Cambridge to complete a Master of Philosophy and a PhD in Medieval-Islamic Political Theology. His dissertation focused on the writing of Al-Ghazali and specifically on the politics of the medieval period.
Dr. Said’s current research consists of transcribing and translating into English a political edition of a 17th century Egyptian-Arabic manuscript. He is also working on an article which is to be published in the Vatican’s journal, Islamochristiana. “The purpose [of this article] is to tease out from certain Sufi and Christian texts how the corporate language of importance of Jerusalem for both Islam and Chrisitanity can produce self-critical reflections for contemporary politics.”
Curious readers can locate a copy of his co-edited book, The Future of Interfaith Dialogue at the Bishop Payne Library. In the meantime, do find time to sit and chat with him over the next few weeks.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and President of The General Theological Seminary